NJ Spring Fishing

[Gerry Zagorski]

Chomping a the bit to start fishing this spring... Serviced all my reels, got the list of stuff needed to be done on the boat and anxiously waiting on Mother Nature to give us some warm sunny days to get the fish feeding.

We usually start fishing in April in the bay for Flounder and switch over to Stripers once the water warms up and they become more active. Fishing this time of year requires some different tactics. The water is still very cold and the fish are lethargic. They are not going to chase trolled or casted lures and even if you see bunker, they are not going to be chasing them either. Soft baits are key this time of year as are the locations and when you choose to fish. For bait it's usually clams, blood or sand worms and for location it's shallow dark muddy bottoms on a falling tide.

The reason for fishing dark muddy bottoms is because the sun heats these areas up faster. Dark mud warms up way faster than sand. The reason for a falling tide is the bay waters warm up faster than the ocean... If you are fishing an incoming you are fishing the colder incoming ocean waters. With a falling tide the sun has had an opportunity to warm up the the water in the shallower bays.. For the same reason I don't go out of my way to get up early to fish in the spring. Mid or later in the day is best since the sun has had an opportunity to warm things up and this often triggers the fish to feed.

Flounder fishing is usually done on anchor using lots of chum and sand or blood worms. More on that here http://www.njfishing.com/NJ_Flounder_Fishing.php

Stripers usually get into gear once the Flounder fishing falls off, however they can be had early in the season but you need to fish shallow, slow and with soft baits like Clam or Sand worms. One of the best early season Striper trips I can recall was fishing in less than 6 feet of water in the mud flats of Raritan bay. We were fishing within a few long casts of the beach bailing the Stripers drifting Sand worms in middle of the afternoon. More on Spring Striper fishing here http://www.njfishing.com/NJ_Spring_S...ss_Fishing.php

Come on Spring!!